Hawk

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: hôk, IPA: /hɔːk/
• US enPR: hôk, IPA: /hÉ”k/
• cot-caught enPR: häk, IPA: /hÉ‘k/
• Rhymes: -ɔːk

Middle English hauk, from Old English hafoc, from Proto-Germanic *habukaz (compare West Frisian hauk, Dutch havik, German Habicht), from Proto-Indo-European *kobuĝo (compare Latin capys, capus 'bird of prey', Albanian gabonjë, shkabë 'eagle', Russian кобец (kóbec) 'falcon', Polish kobuz 'Eurasian Hobby').

Full definition of hawk

Noun

1. A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae.It is illegal to hunt hawks or other raptors in many parts of the world.
2. (politics) An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions; a warmonger.
• 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 106:A hawk by nature, Ellenborough strongly favoured presenting St Petersburg with an ultimatum warning that any further incursions into Persia would be regarded as a hostile act.

Antonyms

• (politics) dove

Derived terms

Related terms

• goshawk
• sparhawk

Verb

1. (transitive) To hunt with a hawk.
• 2003, Brenda Joyce, House of Dreams, page 175:He rode astride while hawking; she falconed in the ladylike position of sidesaddle.
2. (intransitive) To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk. to hawk at flies
• ShakespeareA falcon, towering in her pride of place,
  Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.

Derived terms

• hawk after
• hawk at
• hawk for
• hawking

Uncertain origin; perhaps from Middle English hache ("battle-axe"), or from a variant use of the above.

Noun

1. A plasterer's tool, made of a flat surface with a handle below, used to hold an amount of plaster prior to application to the wall or ceiling being worked on: a mortarboard.

Synonyms

• mortarboard

Derived terms

• hawk boy, hawk-boy

Back-formation from {{3}}

Verb

1. (transitive) To sell; to offer for sale by outcry in the street; to carry (merchandise) about from place to place for sale; to peddle.The vendors were hawking their wares from little tables lining either side of the market square.
• Jonathan SwiftHis works were hawked in every street.

Derived terms

• hawked
• hawking
• hawky

Related terms

• hawker

Onomatopoeia.

Noun

1. An effort to force up phlegm from the throat, accompanied with noise.

Synonyms

• hawking noun

Verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To cough up something from one's throat.
• 1751, Tobias Smollett, , I. xvi. 117He hawked up, with incredible straining, the interjection ah!
• 1953, Saul Bellow, , Viking Press, chapter 3:He had a new tough manner of pulling down breath and hawking into the street.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To try to cough up something from one's throat; to clear the throat loudly.Grandpa sat on the front porch, hawking and wheezing, as he packed his pipe with cheap tobacco.

Derived terms

• hawking noun